For sentimental reasons, my favorite star is Thuban. By no means the brightest star in the sky, Thuban is the third, and brightest, star of the constellation Draco, the dragon, third star from the end – on the tail. In fact, Thuban is one of the dimmest named stars in the sky. But looks, and positions of importance on the tail, can be deceiving! Because our planet, and this is my favorite part, actually wobbles on it’s axis. It suffers from a phenomenon called “gyroscopic precession, the slow movement of the axis of a spinning body around another axis due to torque. Because of this, from about 3000 to 1900 BC, Thuban was the closest to the North Pole. It was our polestar. Until it was replaced by Kochab, which held court until 1100 BC when our current polestar, Polaris, in the Little Dipper, took over. However, sassy little Thuban sat north during the times of the Ancient Egyptians. Astronomers discovered that apparent air shafts that bore out from burial chambers inside the Great Pyramid actually pointed to Thuban on one side, and the belt of Orion on the other.

Thuban’s time of importance is not over. The earth continues to wobble on it’s axis, true north will continue to shift and everything changes. By AD 12,000 our polestar will be Vega, of the constellation Lyra. And right behind it, Thuban will be waiting in the wings, ready to take over again, the dimmest named star in the sky, third star from the end of the dragon tail.

Kids, if you are planning to wear some platform mules that are already kinda slippery on your feet, you might want to take it easy on the after shower body lotion. Otherwise, your feet may slide off the shoe, causing you to do that twisty ankle tripping thing, and you’ll be forced to use your head, with assistance from the wall, to break the fall because most likely your hands are full, but you’ll probably end up dropping anything anyway. At the very least, you’ll look like a spaz.

Chris tagged me to identify five idiosyncratic tendencies that I posses.

Me: I don’t think I have idiosyncrasies. Everything I do makes perfect sense.

Mr. Moon: The fact that you think everything you do makes perfect sense is number one on your list of idiosyncrasies.

Of course, when you put it that way, I have far more than five. So I just went with the first five that came to mind.



1. The Food Thing – I don’t like my food to touch. Each individual foodstuff should exist in it’s own protected sanctuary, unsullied by the flavors of other entrees. Casseroles? Don’t like ’em. That’s just a big dish of food touching. Some food can touch. For instance, turkey can touch stuffing, but not mashed potatoes. Some foods I know need to touch, and I’ve come to terms with that, and accepted it… like salsd. My mom has old fashioned school trays at her house. With little compartments for the different dishes, she always puts that at my place setting. So when I have brunch, and we have Norwegian pancakes, my syrup will not touch my eggs or my bacon! It’s genius.

2. The Vegetable Thing – I don’t like vegetables. The only ones I like are lettuce, spinach [raw], broccoli [raw] and carrots [raw]. I like no cooked vegetables. No, I don’t like corn on the cob. Yes, I mean it, I really don’t like corn on the cob. Even with butter and salt. My mom told me I would like vegetables when I grew up. Either she’s wrong, or I haven’t really grown up. You be the judge.

3. The Parking Thing – I’m a very competitive parker. I’m also a fairly consistent parker. I have a certain area in which I park my car, every day, at work. And it doesn’t vary, until I switch to a new area. I also have a favorite parking spot. And even though there is zero chance of me not being able to park my car when I return, I am loath to leave the garage at lunch, because that means I might lose my parking spot. Keep in mind, I don’t have to walk blocks and blocks from the parking garage, or take a shuttle. Even if I parked in the most remote spot of the garage, it would take less than a minute to get to the door. it’s just that that is MY spot. And if I am lucky enough to nab it in the morning, I’m not giving it up!

4. The Feet Thing – I’m not overly fond of feet. Baby feet are cute. Kitty feet are cute. But people feet, especially grown ups, blech. I don’t want to see feet and I certainly do not want them touching me. I used to be even worse. I’ve gotten better. But you know that movie, My Left Foot? Couldn’t watch it. First thing you saw was a close up of a foot. Ick. When I was a little kid, my family would put their feet on me, just to aggravate me. And my mom would ask me what happened when I got married, what would I do then? And I told her I’d know it was true love when I could tolerate his feet. Tolerate, not appreciate or adore.

5. The Spelling Thing – I’m not unintelligent, but I have real issues with spelling. I simply cannot be bothered. Back in the beginning of the überbrain, when we’d have marathon chat sessions, Arifa coined the phrase “Jodespeak,” which occurs when one simply cannot be bothered to even attempt to spell a word, but rather just enough for the reader to figure it out due to context, using random letters to fill in the rest. Idiosyncrasskithieties, for example. As a side note, my language is fairly fluid, and I will combine words as i see fit and not even recognize what is wrong.

Honorable mentions go to The Memory Thing, The Sleep Thing, and The Total and Complete Lack of Physical Coordination Thing, which did not make it on the list. Maybe some other day. I’d love to see what you guys all come up with for your own lists.